McCann's Manor (24 page)

Joel smiled as he took another cookie, “That he does. Thank you for reminding me I don't have to be perfect yet. I said I'm a modern priest; but I also still have a lot of old ideas coursing through my brain—I was taught in the old school."

"Speaking of the old school, I found some very old manuscripts written in a language I can't identify. Something made me think they might be Celtic in origin. Do you know anything about the language? Could you, for example, translate it?” Liz asked.

He pursed his lips, rubbed his chin, “Yes, I do know quite a bit of the old languages, but many of the writings are considered taboo in the Church. Translating them for you could get me into trouble. What manner of writings are they?"

"I think I would have to be able to read them before I would know that,” Liz said. “What I do know about them is that they predate Benjamin McCann by a century or more and they are most likely, very secret."

"I see. Maybe I had better think and pray on it before I make any commitment, then. Could I see them?” he asked.

Liz looked at Kim; Kim shrugged. “They're in a secret passage that adjoins the library. Do you want to see the passage as well, or do you want me to just bring one of them out?” Liz asked.

"How many of them are there?” Joel asked.

"Dozens. There are some texts written in French and German, but the handwritten ones are the ones I'm most interested in. I'm not sure why, but the
feel
of them was different from the others,” Liz said.

"You mean they give forth a different energy? Is it an evil energy?” Joel asked.

Liz tried to remember the feeling she got from the manuscript she had held, recalled the dizziness she had felt, “They felt very
powerful
, but I didn't identify the feeling as being evil. My protection is strong, though, so I might not have perceived evil, I suppose."

Joel nodded, agreed, “Yes, both of you are surrounded by light and angelic presences. I have seldom encountered such stable spiritual protection. It would be difficult for a harmful entity to get at either of you for long.” He paused to look at them again, “Does my assessment surprise you?"

Liz considered him a moment before replying. “My first thought about you was that you had a good amount of psychic insight. I'm glad I was right about it."

"And it pleases me to approach this with you as friends, not as a priest to a member of his flock. You have to promise me though; you will never tell anyone I'm even considering reading these manuscripts for you,” Joel pleaded.

Kim smiled, patted him on the back, “Don't worry. We are accomplished secret keepers, and I trust you will promise the same."

"Ladies, this is a serious pact we are entering here. You have my word,” Joel promised.

"And you have ours,” Liz affirmed. “There are a lot of secrets in this house, some of which we are aware of and some we are still in the process of discovering."

"I understand,” he said. “Nothing you show me here today will go outside this house with me. If I decide to translate your manuscripts—assuming, of course, that I
can
—I will do it here in this house, under your supervision."

"That's probably best, since these things don't belong to us, but I feel we need to delve into some of them in order to put the spirits here to rest. We can use your help.” Kim said.

He nodded, “I will try to help, but I can't promise you anything. I am curious, though; how did the two of you get into this business of spirit rescuing?"

"Spirit rescuing,” Liz mused, “I like that analogy. No one ever called it that before, but it is, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is,” he agreed.

"Spirits always came to us for help—ever since we were just girls,” Liz began.

"Maybe because we were sensitive to them—who knows? Maybe we became sensitive to them because they always came to us. Anyway, over the years, people started coming to us as well, offering to pay us to come talk to their ghosts for them,” Kim continued.

"So you have always both had the gift?” he asked.

"Yes, that is about the size of it, Joel. What about you?” Liz asked.

"Ah, well, my grandmother saw something in me and taught me as much as she could about it. She said I was quite exceptionally talented, but I always feared it somehow. I have never tried to use it without having other psychics there to help me. The three of us, for example, would make a very strong union of souls to communicate with the other world,” Joel said.

"That is a good way for us to go about this—all three of us should be present any time you are working on the translation,” Kim agreed.

Joel nodded, “I don't mind telling you, I came here hoping something like this would happen. Now that it has, I'm a bit unnerved."

Liz smiled at him and said, “That's why we are
all
going to do this together. Something has been happening to me whenever I try to work on it alone. It is almost like another spirit is trying to control my thoughts. It has confused me as to what's true and what's not and I am having bad headaches and dizzy spells. This kind of thing seldom happens to me."

"It shouldn't happen at all, as much protection as I sense around you,” Joel commented.

"I know,” Liz agreed. “But there is
something
almost managing to get past all the protection. That's why I feel the need to learn as much as I can about those manuscripts because I think they hold the key somehow."

Liz and Kim explained as much of what they had discovered in the five weeks since they moved into the house as they could while they made their way to the crescent room. Once inside the room, Joel stood in silent amazement at the sheer volume of books and manuscripts in front of him. When he at last spoke, it was in a hushed whisper, “This is amazing; I have never seen anything like it. These books and manuscripts must be worth an absolute fortune, just because of the age and condition of them, let alone the information they must hold. There is something sinister surrounding them, though, isn't there? Why were they secreted away here, for example? Why does this room seem impervious to time and the effect of the elements? What force has protected them all these years?"

Liz opened the volume which had first caught her attention to the first page, held it up to Joel's view, “Is this written in anything you can understand?"

Joel scanned the page, turned to the next page, scanned again, then looked at her in mixed surprise and disbelief, “These are the writings of one Peaitarrh McCann,” he announced.

Liz stepped closer as Joel pointed to the name, looked at it with interest. She studied the scrawled hand across the page, “Peaitarrh Mc—
Ptarmigan
?"

"Beg your pardon?” Joel asked.

"Peaitarrh—the way you said it made me think of a name I have heard before—Ptar McCann, although the way I heard it was more slurred together and it sounds like Ptarmigan,” Liz explained.

"Do you think they are one and the same?” Joel asked.

"My
feeling
is that they may be. So, what is in this book?"

Joel ran his hand over the page, read a few more entries, “This is a book of spells and incantations; instructions on how to summon spirits."

"Magic?” Kim asked.

"
Black
magic,” he answered as he closed the book and placed it again in its place on the shelf.

"You're kidding!” Kim said.

"I would never kid about black magic. I won't be translating them for anyone; not from the looks of what I just read. If I were in possession of these books, I would create a very large bonfire of them—and soon. There is a world of evil in them,” Joel said, a bit shaken.

"You mean to say you would destroy
all
of them?” Liz asked.

"I would recommend they all be destroyed at once, yes. Even though there is no certainty they are all foul without reading all of them, I would have to say it is likely they all have much to do with black magic and that may be why they were amassed here in this one spot. They are very old and many of these titles are suggestive of black magic. The very act of reading them, even silently, could be enough to open doors better left unopened,” he advised.

"I don't understand. I have no working knowledge of black magic—I never wanted to go there. Suppose someone had already read enough of them to open some
doors
—how would one go about closing them again?” Liz asked.

Joel sighed, “That is a good question. The three of us could attempt to close the doors, but if specific texts from these books was used to open—or invoke certain spirits—it would take a knowledge of the same texts to assure those spirits were permanently locked on the other side."

"So you're saying we could probably close the door, but we couldn't lock it?” Kim asked.

"In essence, that is true. It might keep the portal closed for a very long time, or it might last a mere few days. Tarrh McCann must have had a vast knowledge of Tir nan Og, the Celtic
otherworld
, or world of the spirit. Many believe it is possible to cross back into the world of the physical at will if the spirit involved knows how to do it or is strong enough,” Joel explained.

"You think Tarrh McCann may have known the secret?” Kim asked.

"It appears from what I have read here, he did—that, and many other diabolical bits of knowledge,” he said.

Liz nodded thoughtfully. “If this Tarrh McCann and Ptarmigan are one and the same, he
is
strong. And, judging by what I know so far about Ptarmigan and the impression I'm getting, I would say it's likely they
are
the same. Is there any date on these writings?"

"They seem to range from mid-sixteen-fifties to the end of the seventeenth century,” Joel answered.

"Hmm—that would predate Benjamin by about a century.” Kim mused. “Tarrh would have been Benjamin's great-great-grandfather, perhaps?"

"Maybe even add a great.” Liz agreed. “What reason do you think he might have had to want to come back here at will, Joel?"

Joel deliberated a few moments on Liz's question. “You can wager it wasn't so he could have a kind look in on his heirs and gauge their progress through time. This man had a self-serving purpose, one that was strong enough to keep him bound to this plane."

"Sounds serious,” Liz surmised.

"Yes, I think it is
quite
serious,” he agreed.

"Well, if you won't translate these texts for us, I guess you're going to have to teach us
how
to read them, Joel,” Liz said.

Joel stared at her in disbelief. “Haven't you heard a word I said? These texts should be destroyed. We aren't talking about just any troublesome spirit like the ones you have dealt with in the past—this one is strong and a demonic phantasm, versed in black magic—a monster."

Yes, that description fit Ptarmigan pretty well, according to Missy. “I
have been
listening and I couldn't agree with you more—
after
we find out how to send him back to this Tir nan Og to stay, that is. We can't risk having anyone turning him loose again. This house will never know peace until he is gone for good,” Liz said.

"What makes you think we will find out how to do that in these writings?” Kim asked.

"If one could travel back here at will from information in these texts, the knowledge on how to keep a troublesome spirit on the other side must lie in them as well,” Liz said.

Joel rubbed his forehead, shuffled about, then sighed, “I suppose you are right—but teaching you will take time, and I have the feeling I might live to regret it. I'll help you to translate as well, but it will take all three of us working together to learn the answer you seek. In the meantime, we have to purge the house of Tarrh's spirit for the time being. We may have to do that a number of times before we can put him back to stay."

"What should we do?” Kim asked.

"We should start by blessing the house, as you wanted. Next, we will call on God and his angels to help us bind this being for a time. Then we have to get started as soon as possible with these texts. Do either of you read or understand French, Latin or German?” Joel asked.

"I took some French in college,” Kim volunteered, “but I'm pretty rusty at it now."

"I have played with Latin from time to time; nothing to write home about,” Liz added.

"That's better than nothing; it comes easier the second time, you know. I know quite a bit of all three of those languages and I will give you some reminders on French and Latin; I will teach you both all the Celtic I know—which isn't as much as it needs to be, I fear, but it will have to do. Past what combined academic knowledge we can bring to bear on it, we will have to rely on our psychic senses and perhaps even blind luck. If it can be done, I believe the three of us can do it,” Joel said.

"When do you want to start?” Kim asked.

"We will bless the house right now, then we will have a meditation and prayer session to bind Tarrh. I can work on this project on Monday mornings and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, and I will commit to coming at those times. Will that work for you?” he asked.

"We should be able to arrange our schedules to accommodate that, right, Kim?” Liz asked.

"Sure, I think that will work fine. I will just reschedule whatever I need to at the bookstore and most of the other commitments we have are in the evening,” Kim told them.

"Bookstore?” Joel asked.

"Yes, we have part ownership in a new age bookstore in Austin, and Kim goes in and does readings and consultations from time to time, but there is nothing we can't schedule so it doesn't conflict with our language lessons—they will be very important,” Liz explained.

"Oh, I see,” Joel said. “Well, let's get busy; I have several commitments this evening myself, but I want to accomplish as much as we can to alleviate the problem before I have to leave, even if it
is
temporary."

"What about language translator programs for the computer? We should be able to feed much of this information into the computer and have a program help us translate it,” Kim suggested.

"Why, yes, we might be able to translate much of it that way, but there will be some data the programs won't be able to handle. It's worth a try,” Joel said.